The visit to this temple at Agara was a part of our
Chozha period temples Visit on the ancient trade route from Chamarajanagar to
Kollegal ( Gangapadi ), in Karnataka State. This place was called as Durgaiyur Agara, which is now called as Agara. Agara,
a village in the Yelandur taluk in the Mysore District. Population 4,261. It
has four old temples dedicated to Ramesvara, Narasimha, Varadharaja and Durga.
In that except Varadharaja Temple, the other temples were recently renovated.
The Varadharaja temple was encroached by a private person.
In the Tamil inscriptions, the village is named
Durgaiyur- agaram and in the Kannada Durgagrahara, thus showing that it derived
its name from the goddess Durga of the place, though litterally the first portion
was left out and the place came to be known as merely Agara. It will be seen
from the Kannada and Tamil names of the village as given in the inscriptions
that agara is only a Tamil corruption of the Sanskrit agrahara.
Moolavar : Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy.Thayar : Sri Lakshmi
Some of the Salient features of this temple
are.....The temple is facing
west with a balipeedam. Nagars are under a tree. Maha Vishnu’s Dasavatharam bas-reliefs are on both sides of the Artha mandapam entrance. Maha lakshmi Sannidhi
is in the artha mandapam.
There is an entrance
with porch on the north side with bas
relief Ganga and Yamuna. Maha Vishnu’s reclining posture is on the top ( Lintel
) of the entrance.
Moolavar Narasimhar is
in yogic posture with tongue protruding outside. Naradha and Bhaktha Prahlada
are on both sides of Narasimhar. Mahalakshmi is carved on the chest of
Narasimhar. Narasimhar has 3 eyes similar to Lord Shiva is the uniqueness of
this temple. It is believed that
Thayar Sannidhi was closed due to threat of snake.
ARCHITECTUREThe temple consists of
sanctum sanctorum, antarala, artha mandapam and a mukha mandapam. The sanctum
sanctorum is of Gajaprishta style with out
Vimana. The adhisthana is of padabandha adhisthana with three patta kumuda.
Koshta Niches are provided on the sanctum sanctorum walls and they are empty
now. The north side entrance porch pillars are of square and Octagonal.
Nagabandha are beautifully carved.
Moolavar : Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy.
Thayar : Sri Lakshmi
Gajaprishta Vimanam
Gajaprishta Vimanam
Gajaprishta Vimanam
HISTORY AND INSCRIPTIONSThe temple was built
during Chozha period and Inscriptions are found on the Kumuda of adhisthanam. There are nearly fifty Tamil
inscriptions in the four temples of Agara. During the restoration of these inscription stones are broken or chiselled out. Some of the stones has fragment inscriptions and no inscription is complete. One of
the fragment inscription mentions the god, which may on palaeographical grounds
be assigned to the close of the 10th century, bears testimony to the antiquity
of the temple. There are also other fragments recording grants to the by the
Hoysala king temple by Vishnu Vardhana and the general Vishnu-dandadhipa. The
car mandapa to the right of the temple was built with stones with fragment inscriptions.
The 64
inscriptions recored in 4 temples are in Tamil and Grantha Characters. Some
of them are in Sanskrit. Moolavar Maha Vishnu was called as Singaperumal and this place was called as Duggayur-Agara.
A 12th
Century inscription records the endowment of burning a perpetual lamp before
god Singaperumal for which 6 pons are gifted, by Kunrachchi Chettiar. Another
person has gifted 3 pons for the same purpose.
A 11th
Century inscription records the endowment of Nadavanam by Atkondapillai
alias Singaperumal of Thiruvarur for the same a land was gifted.
For maintenance providing a worker a sum of 3 pons and 5 panams were gifted by
Vennaikkanttadan son of Gotamanyirunaki-battar.
This
inscription refers to a person Ganatturan and mentions the wage of 3 gadayanas
paid to an individual.
Another 13th
Century inscription ( Tamil & Sanskrit mentions the King Narasimha and
refers to god Singapperumal of Duggayar-agaram. The next inscription refers the
same kings name and records the endowment of burning a perpetual lamp in the
month Chithirai.
A fragment
stone inscription records the purchase of Land at Mampalli and another place
and additions made to this latter.
Another
inscription records the endowment of burning a perpetual lamp to god Singaperumal
by KaladiKiriyalvan for which he had given a gift of 3 gadayanas.
A
fragmentary Sanskrit inscription records that Vishnu-Dandadhipa, who appears to
have made some gift.
Inscriptions
Inscriptions
Inscriptions
LEGENDS As per the Sthala purana gives a different
derivation. It says that a king of the name of Vishnu Sharma, who, when on a
visit to the place, was bitten by a cobra, got rid of the poison by his prayers
to the deities Ramesvara and Narasimha, and that thence forward the village
became known as Agara (free from gara or poison).
In the recently restored Narasimha temple, the
garbhagriha and sukhanasi, which appear to belong to the original structure,
are of an oval shape ( samputakara ). The ardha mandapa / Navrang has two entrances with porches on the west and
north, and opposite to the north entrance is a cell in which the metallic image
of the god is kept Narasimha is a fine figure, about four feet high with
prabhavali or halo, seated in the posture of yoga or meditation. The image is
said to represent five kinds of Narasimha, a peculiarity not found elsewhere;
it represents Yoga-Narasimha being seated in the yoga posture, Lakshmi-Narasimha
by reason of having a figure of Lakshmi sculptured in its chest, Ugra-Narasimha on account of the presence of a third eye on the forehead, Jwala-Narasimha as
having flames represented near the ears, and Prahlada-Nara-Simha on account of
the presence of a figure of Prahlada at the side.
TEMPLE TIMINGSSince oru kala pooja is conducted the closing and
opening times are unpredictable.
HOW TO REACH:This place Agara is
on the bus route Chamarajanagar to Kollegal. 31.2 KM from Chamarajanagar, 7 Km
from Kollegal, 61.8 KM from Mysore and 147 KM from Bangalore.
REFERENCE : Mysore
District Gazetteer
Dasavathara bas-reliefs
Dasavathara bas-reliefs--- OM SHIVAYA
NAMA ---
As per the Sthala purana gives a different
derivation. It says that a king of the name of Vishnu Sharma, who, when on a
visit to the place, was bitten by a cobra, got rid of the poison by his prayers
to the deities Ramesvara and Narasimha, and that thence forward the village
became known as Agara (free from gara or poison).
REFERENCE : Mysore
District Gazetteer
No comments:
Post a Comment